Tour of Poland Quick Preview and Stage 1 O/T
by Chris Fontecchio on Aug 2, 2009 11:10 AM EDT
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Start list HERE. Contains a pretty solid list of names, which is step one to putting on a good race. Columbia are completely loaded for stage wins, with Andre Greipel patrolling the bunch gallops and Albasini, Boasson Hagen and Burghardt for the longer attacks. Greipel will have Allan Davis, Graeme Brown, JJ Haedo, Danilo Napolitano, Seb Chavanel and others for company. Ivan Basso heads up the GC list, along with Dan Martin, David Lopez Garcia, Philippe Gilbert, Nick Nuyens, the World Champion, and Kanstantin Siutsou to make things interesting.
How to win is another matter. [All info gleaned from the official site, where I discovered that this race is older than my dad.] Today is a circuit race around Warsaw, fairly sure to end in a sprint. Tomorrow and Tuesday the Tour goes to Bialystok (mmmm, bialy...) and Lublin, ending with slightly hilly circuits, the latter of which might be enough for a late selection. Wednesday is a long 240km rolling slog to Rzeszow, which should soften up the legs for the real action:
Thursday, stage 5 to Krynica Zdroj: Four closing circuits, each of which contains the cat 2 Kopciowa and cat 1 Jakubik, with a short downhill to the line. Climbs are in the 200-meter (elevation) range or so.
Friday, stage 6 to Zakopane: Eleven rated climbs, including four 25km circuits of the dual summits of Murzasichle and Glodowka. The valley is at 780 meters, and the climbs are to 1032m, dropping down, then up to 1140m. One last trip over the Murzasichle at the end for good measure before bombing down to the line.
Saturday finishes with one more for the sprinters. Polish TV will be covering the race, so I expect some video, someplace. Last year, IIRC, weather and dangerous conditions basically ruined the race (not surprisingly won by Jens Voigt, who isn't so easily deterred), and this year could be messy for a while, though the forecasts look better for later in the week. Enjoy!
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polish tv (tvp1) is georestricted. no luck so far today to find alternative feeds
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
british eurosport
are showing daily highlights starting at 5pm UK time tomorrow, so i’ll probably be watching those. i don’t know if international are showing these as well…
hopefully the changed dates this year will allow tv to actually get some coverage..
"at the end of the day, it's only the tour de france."- bradley wiggins (and majope)
yes indeed
it was great thanks, temperature never really dropped below 35 during the day and i never really left the pool :) i’ve missed so much though, i watched the ventoux stage but haven’t had internet. took me about 2 hours to read all the threads from the last week…smack-talk central!
"at the end of the day, it's only the tour de france."- bradley wiggins (and majope)
Well done.
Though you must be a very fast reader! Finally had a look at the Ventoux stage last night & read a thread or two, but, alas, I didn’t have the energy to do all of them…
Favourite moment? Cav & Thor on Ventoux. Ace.
heh
i admit it was only skim reading! how was the lake district? cav and thor was really excellent, but i have to say, tony martins facial expressions were pretty hilarious, bless him. kinda glad i wasn’t around for all the drama, the tour has a habit of blowing everything into one massive controversy ball.
"at the end of the day, it's only the tour de france."- bradley wiggins (and majope)
great!
i was a little upset that my holiday ended before it began…looks like a strong lineup this year. i was looking at a sports paper over there, they were pretty happy that cunego plans to race.
"at the end of the day, it's only the tour de france."- bradley wiggins (and majope)
great
looking forward to this (finally) being the Hector Guerra year, he’s close to unstoppable these days
georestricted. Doesn't make sense since no one is showing it here (in the US)
____________
"Reality has a well-known Contador bias." -Sui Juris, PdC Editor
makes ya wonder don't it
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
maybe weshould talk to universal about getting the rights, eh
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
stage 1 thread... on final lap
http://www.podiumcafe.com/2009/8/2/972657/tour-de-pologne
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
Andrey Amador Bikkazakova?
Surely that’s the best name in the peloton.
It’s crying out to be rapped, Beastie Boys-style. They could even rhyme it with Josu Agirre Aseginolaza.
Well, half-rhyme, anyway.
Cavendish won again
at the Bochum…..Giro???? Don’t ask me why a German race has an Italian name. Also, looking at the final results, it looked like Milram had about 6 guys in the final group while Cav was the only Columbia guy, brilliant tactics boys, aint nothing like trying to get second with Ciolek.
"On a personal level, I have never had admiration for him and I never will"
~AC about LA, me about Johan "drama queen" Bruyneel
Probably a post-Tour crit
likewise there’s a bit of footage from the “Tour de Neuss” here, complete with Tony Martin sprinting for the win then giving an interview in German and Strine.
Nope, 1.1 event
"On a personal level, I have never had admiration for him and I never will"
~AC about LA, me about Johan "drama queen" Bruyneel
Not sure if it's a post-Tour crit
but don’t think so, because they have complete teams participating: http://www.sparkassen-giro.de/maenner_start2009.html
Ten man teams?
do any other races let in such large teams. (and what sort of event makes the derny drivers wear red tights?)
several
races do. The Subida Urkiola 1.1 event in Spain, also held Sunday, for example
http://startlist.cyclingfever.com/startlist.html?_p=startlijst&id=19360
Tour of Denmark
Some funny stories from Post Danmark Rundt:
Four riders from Ukraine got drunk in the broom wagon on the quen stage and an Italian rider got dq’ed on the last stage because he hit a dutch rider in the face with his fist, I do not know if he was drunk too :)
Oh and Fuglsang won the race :-) It is the second year he wins PDR
Enrico Rossi was the guy DQed for fighting
DR1 had the whole incident on tape. There was a major brouhaha with fistfighting, theobosing and italian armwaving. Can’t find the video but here are podiumgirls instead.
First time I've noticed
how much the CSC shorts look like Bridget Jones’ big pants.
But probably great when milking cattle, back in the day?
I’ve been trying to figure it out all week and I’ve got nothing. It’s one of those great danish mysteries, like why does their word for “calm” mean “funny” in swedish?
Off topic Bending bike seat need HELP!
Wondered if anyone has any ideas. I’ve now bent the frame below the seat on 2 seats. I developed in my old age@#$%@# a condition in my back where I’m putting more weight on the left cheek then the right. I also have to use traditonal type seat on a mountain bike in order to be able to continue to ride. I think I’m either pushing more on the left side when I’m pedaling and or when I hit a Bump coming down on the left side force with the full weight I’ve thought about sometype of a strut that needs to be welded from the post to the frame under the seat to be stiffen it somehow? I just wondered if anyone had some idea or perhaps a partricular type of seat the won’t bend as easily or at all. If you need more info ask away and I’ll try to give some additonal information. If it’s too rigid I think I could put Gel on it to soften the ride. THKs!!!!!!!
do a fanpost
nobody will find this topic buried in the Tour de Pologne preview.
ABRUZZIAM...uh oh
by Chris Fontecchio on Aug 3, 2009 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions
Video of the final 2 km
here, all I can say is..WOW, the Columbia lead-out train didn’t get it right, forcing Greipel to go from way too far out.
"On a personal level, I have never had admiration for him and I never will"
~AC about LA, me about Johan "drama queen" Bruyneel
Is anyone else eagerly anticipating the Vuelta a Burgos?!
This time last year I had no idea where Burgos was, but then primarily myself and crashdan got hooked on the race through Tour withdrawal. Much fun. Actually, not a bad startlist this year….
Adrenalina Italiana!
I have no idea why I find this kit amusing...it just looks odd!
Oh no...
Because the old kit was a real success.
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.
by TheFigurehead on Aug 3, 2009 5:05 AM EDT up reply actions
Add some numbers on both sides
and they’d look like thermometers
Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill (F. Coppi)
Not sure why everybody
picks on
red shorts
all the
time.
That Worlds also seems to have had the most creatively-dressed podium girls.
Throughout the stage all I kept on thinking was: ‘don’t finish second, you can’t finish second again’.--Heinrich Haussler
Sausage today?
Throughout the stage all I kept on thinking was: ‘don’t finish second, you can’t finish second again’.--Heinrich Haussler
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